Gordon Snidow

There are few ranches where preservation of our western heritage is important. Where they still take the wagon out. Where cowboying is still done the traditional way, by "dragging calves to the fire." Where an effort is made to keep the Star Mill working, not because it is the best or the easiest way to draw water but because it is part of history. Too soon, the sun will set on "the last Star Mill," and not long after that, the last cowboy. A way of life will end. - Gordon Snidow

Gordon Snidow has been known as the foremost chronicler of the contemporary cowboy for over thirty-nine years. He is a leader in the development of the American Western Art Movement, and is one of America's outstanding fine artists. "The West, like all places, is a continuum of space and time; it is as alive and vibrant in today's guise - and as Snidow paints it - as it was when George Catlin, Charles M. Russell, Frederic Remington and their successors through the years painted it.He is a historian who records his time in pictures rather than words, and as Russell and other in-their-time "contemporary" chroniclers of the Westare seen today as painters of the "Historic West," so Snidow will be seen in the future." ― Prix de West 1998 catalog

Snidow is recording other aspects of his time. Those include his American Woman Series, Homeless, Wildlife, and one specific work recognizable anywhere in the country today - an adobe wall covered with graffiti. All are parts of his view of the "whole fabric" of the modern West. He paints it not as he would like it to be, but the way it is - ugliness and all. There are no guarantees for the future of the cowboy, but there is for his past. Thanks to Gordon Snidow, the cowboy in the late 20th century, and his Western world will be preserved.

Snidow was born in Paris, Missouri in 1936 and moved from there to Oklahoma, and then to Texas. He earned a BFA from the Art Center College of Design in Los Angeles, CA. He is a charter member of the Cowboy Artists of America. When he retired after 25 years to become a member emeritus, he was the Cowboy Artists Of America top medal winner. Snidow had won 27 Gold and Silver Medals, including three for Best of Show. His work can be found in the permanent collection of the leading Western art museums including the Thomas Gilcrease Museum, the National Cowboy Hall of Fame, the Cowboy Artists of America Museum, the Cody Museum, and the Phoenix Art Museum.

In 2003, Snidow was honored with a retrospective exhibition at the Smithsonian Arts and Industries Building in Washington DC. The exhibition, "Gordon Snidow - My Story" featured more than 100 works of art spanning over four decades of his career.